Wood chipper



Jan. 19, 1965 w. R. MATTHEWS WOOD CHIPPER 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 1, 1960 I I/IQIVENTOR. W/LL/FM A? M/ITT/irws Jan. 19, 1965 w. R. MATTHEWS WOOD CHIPPER 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 1, 1960 INVENTOR. W/u/p/w R /%rr//Ws Jan. 19, 1965 w. R. MATTHEWS WOOD CHIPPER Filed Dec. 1, 1960 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

WILL/HM R. MFITTH WS Jan. .19, 1965 w'., R. MATTHEWS WOOD CHIPPER 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 1, 1960 INVENTOR.

Jan. 19, 1965 w. R. MATTHEWS 3,166,109

woon CHIPPER Filed Dec. 1, 1960 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. WILL/FM R /%977fl Jan. 19, 1965 Filed Dec. 1, 1960 W. R. MATTHEWS WOOD CHIPPER 8 Sheets-Sheet '7 INVENTOR.

-| W/u/mu R MFTMEr/s w. R. MATTHEWS 3,166,109

woos CHIPPER Jan. 19, 1965 v 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed De c. 1, 1960 IN-VENTOR. W/u mm R l flrrazms 1 55,1 wool) erm rnn William R. Matthews, W. 11922 7th, SpokaneyWash.

Filed Dec. '1, 1969, Sex. No. 72,939

10 Claims. (11. 144-462 My invention relates to a wood chipper adapted to convert wood blocks and the like into uniform chips or wafers. It is the principal purpose of this invention to provide a machine which will cut up blocks or pieces of wood and produce chips or wafers of a desired uniform thilckness wherein the fiber length also is substantially uniform.

This invention is an improvement upon the machine shown in my prior patent No. 2,876,811, granted March 10, 1959, for Wood Water Cutting Machine.

For several reasons it isdesirable to maintain rather accurate control of thickness and fiber length in producing wafers or chips from wood. For example, in certain pulping processes such as the Continuous Cold Soda Pulping Process, uniformity of chip thickness makes it possible to obtain more" uniformity in the digesting. For making wafer board Where 'the wafers are bonded together in random overlapped arrangements it is desirable to have wafers of uniform thickness. My improved machine is designed to enable the operator to select the wafer thickness and to cut the wood into wafers with the fibers of uniform length.

More particularly it is the purpose of my invention to provide a wood chipper wherein an endless carrier has a multiplicity of cutting and chip carrying heads thereon arranged to sweep across a wood block and slice from it waters of like thickness wherein the fibers are essentially lengthwise of the wafers produced, the carrier embodying endless chains connected by alternate cutter carrying bars and block support and gage bars which are moved in a plane across the face of the wood.

Other and more detailed objects of my invention will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention. The drawings and description are illustrative only,

however, and are not intended to limit the invention except insofar as it is limited by the claims.

In the drawings: FIGURE 1 is a vertical sectional chipper embodying my invention; 7 FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the machine; FIGURE 3 is a side view of the machine; FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line H of FIGURE 2; V

FIGURE 5 is a detailed view illustrating the chain back ing frame and its mounting on the housing of the machine;;

FIGURE 6 is a detailed view of the .drive shaft and sprocket assembly; a

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectionalview looking at the face of the cutter assembly from line 77 Qf'F GUR view through a wood FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line ti-S of FIGURE ,1, showing the wood block resting against the cutter mechanism; 7 7

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged fragmentary section view taken on the line 9 9 of FIGURE 8, but with the wood block removed and the feed chute wall broken away;

s FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary sectional view takensubstantially on the same line as FIGURE 8 but'showing a" modified construction; a v

i FIGURE 11 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 11-11 of FIGURE showing how'the 3,166,109 Patented Jan. 1 5 3, 1965 ice ' FIGURE 13 is an enlarged fragrnentarysectional view taken on the line 13-13 ofFIGURE 8;

FIGURE 14 is an enlarged front face view of one of the cutters and its mounting bar;

FIGURE 15 is a sectional of FIGURE 4; V V 7 FIGURE 16 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 16-16 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 17 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 17-17 of FIGURE 3; and

7 FIGURE 18 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 1$18 of FIGURE 6 Referring now to the drawings, my invention is embodied in a machine wherein the numeral l indicates a housing for the cutting mechanism. A hopper for supplying wood pieces is shown at 2 and beneaththe hopper 2 is a feed chute 3. An aperture 4 is provided in the adjacent face 1a of the housing'in alignment withthe feed chute 3; The hopper opens at the bottom into the'feed-chute 3 and a slidable cover plate S is movable between the hopper and the feed chute to vary the size of the opening. The face In of the housing 1 carries an inclined projection '6 that partially blocks passage between the hopper 2 and the feed chute 3; A framework 7 having legs Shear one end and connecting at its other end to the housing l-supports thefeed chutes. A hand lever 9 is pivotally mounted on i a lever support 10 at one side of the framework 7 and has pusher isfiXed to a piston rod 13 ofa hydraulic jack 14;

The jack 14 is. mounted on two cross that form part of the framework 7. V

The cuttingmechanisrn comprises an endless series of units or cross bars 17 and 18 thatmove downward across the opening 4- inthe housing. The units '1 7ea'ch carry cutting heads 24 The units ls alternate with the units 17 andare spacers to separate the cutting heads far enough toenabl'e' the larger wood billets B to advance between passes of cutting heads across them. Thefunits'-17 and 18 are carried bytwo'endlesschains 21 and 22 whichare trainedabout lower drive wheels 23 and 24 and upper guide sprocket wheels 25 and 26.-- The sprocket wheels '25 and 26 are mounted on a'shaft 27 which is mounted in bearings 28 and 2 9; The bearings 28 and 29 are adjustably mounted in guide frames {30 and 31 mounted on the housing 1 and can be moved up by adjusting screws'r32 to tighten thechains 21 and 22; -See FIGURES 16 and 17. V

j .The lower sprocket wheels 23 and24 are afiixed to a drive shaft 33 which is journalled in bearing blocks 3.4 and 35'mounted on the housing 1. The shaft 33 has a V pulley .sfdat one end adapted to receive belts 37. driven frorn any suitable" power source. The otheneiid of the;

shaft 3? has a pulley 38 thereon which is connected by; belts 39 to a pulley 49 on the impeller shaft 41 of a blower 42. The blower 42 has an inlet conduit 43 opening into the 1 housing 1 below the aperture 4. The outletconduit 554 of theblower may lead to any desired disposal point;

The construction of the cutting mechanism is shown in FIGURES 7-9, and 13-15. In order to cut wafersof coritrolled thicknessfrom thewood billets B (FIG UR E 1:1) I provide support bars 45. extending.from the Iinksfof the endless chainsi zl' and 22 and I- mount-"the miner; and

' 18 on these'bars45 using screw bolts 46' adjacent to the ends of the units and heneathith cutter'heads units 17 are made up of blocks 47 and there is only one screw bolt connection 46 from each block to a bar V on each chain so'the blockscan separate fromall butftine- 7 pair of thebars'while thechains 21fandi22 are goings]v I around the sprocket wheels 23, 214, 25Iand 26. As arranged the blocks i? have ribs #8 and 5t thereon] Therflat surview taken on the line1515 beams 15 and16;

faces 49 between the'ribs 48 serve as supports for chips and 52 that are longitudinally aligned with the ribs 48 and 50. Each blade has a front cutting edge 53 and a top scoring edge 54. Between the blades 51 and 52 are slicing members 55 having cuttingedges 57 and hollowed out portions at 56 to provide a gullet in which the chips C arerc-dire'cted forwardly after being sliced from a billet B. As illustrated in FIGUREll the front ribs 48 engage the wood in advance of the cutter heads and limit its approach to the cutting edges 57 of the members 55. The rear ribs 50 support the wood behind the cutting edge to avoid tipping of the wood. 7

' The block 47 is recessed at 58 to receive the blades 51 and 52 and the members 55. These blades and members seat in the recess-58 and are held down by a bar 59 and screws 60. This makes a'sirnple arrangement for removal.

continuous from end to end. Screwbolts 62 adjacent to the ends of the units 18- secure these units to the respective chains 21 and 22 through the bars 45., 7

It is essential that the units 17 and 18 be accurately with the wood billets; To assure this the chains 21 and 22 'are supported by a' unique arrangement of bearings so that ,the pressure of the wood doesnot push them out of line.

The chains'have rollers 21a and 22a ridingon two guide bars 64 and 65 which are part of a chain backing frame 63. The frame 63'has two end plates 66 and 67 bolted to the housing and cross channels 68and 69 welded to the endplates, The guide bars 64 and 65. are welded to the guided across the aperture'4 while they are in engagement cross channels 68 and69. and have. hardened faces on which therollers 21a. and 22a ride.

To offsetjthe wood thrust I provide every third chain, pivot of each chainrwith an elongated pivot pin-21c or 22c which mounts a roller 70. The rollers 70 bear. upon bearing plates-71 and72 that arefastened to the housing 1 toextend ,vertically thereon outside of the aperture 4.

These bearing plates are preferably made of a low friction 7 material that can withstand long continued use with little wear.. The rollers 70 cooperate with the rollers 21a and ZZatokeep the chains 21 and22'and their bars 45,travel-' ling in a straight line across the face of the aperture4'. Note ithat the rollers70 are 'so positioned (FIGURE 1) as to support arbar 45 undereach cornerofeach of the units 17 and 18.. 1

.In the modification-illustratedin FIGURE 10 the rollers 70 are not used. Instead the links of'the'c'hains 21 and V '22 are provided with extensions .74 'whichcai'ryt bearing bars 73, These'bars 73'are made of alow friction material preferably that sold under the trade name Teflon.

The bars 73 slide on the bearing'plates 71 and 72 as the wafers as they are sliced off by the edges 57 are curled over the gullets 56 and forwardly until they are dis charged and removed below the aperture 4. The blower 42 draws the finished chips out of the housing for removal through the conduit 44. It should be noted that the scoring edges 54 of the blades 51 and 52 always leave the faces of the billets scored'for the next cut by-the slicing members V The knives and slicing members'can be easily replaced by removing the bars 59. When they are sharpened it is a simple matter to compensate for the reduced thickness by putting more shims beneath them. Thefdepth of cut is controlled by the relative heights of the ribs 48 in front of the cutter heads 2%) and the ribs 50 behind the cutter heads. The cutting edges 57 of the slicing members are set at the height of the ribs 50. To change the thickness of water out the cross bars 17 carrying the cutter heads; are replaced by otherv cross bars having a different relative heightof the ribs 50 with respect to the ribs 48. It is thus possible to cut billets into waters of predetermined thickness and have uniformity of thickness and length of Wafer. The wafers will break into a variety of widths as they are curled back between the ribs 48 by the gullet 56 of the slicing member 55. The ribs 61 on the cross bars .18 are or" the proper height to be inthe same plane as the ribs 480m the cross bars 17 as they travel past the feed outlet opening 4 from the feed box 3. a

t It is believed to be evident'frorn the foregoing descrip. tion that I have provided a simple rugged machine for slicing wood billets into wafers or chips of uniform thickness and length. 'W ith-this machine the product can be controlled accurately and there is practically no waste in fines. I a

' Having thus describedmy invention, I'claim:

l. A water. cutting machine, adapted to slice watersfrom a'wood billet, comp-rising an endless power driven conveyor made up of two endless chains trained around spaced sprocket wheels and cross bars removably secured to and connecting said chains, a billet feed box having an outlet opening to said conveyor and having means therein operable to press a billet therein through said opening against the cross bars, certain of said cross bars; having cutter heads thereon provided with means to slice a wafer from the billet as the cross bar is drawn.

across the billet, a chain backing frame positioned on the;

inside of the conveyor opposite the outlet opening of the outlet, by pressure ofthe billet, said chains having lateral "extensions provided with bearingjrnembers oppositethe 'cross bars and bearing plates afiixed to thefeed box at the sides of the outlet opening, on which said members units 17 and 18 corresponding thereto pass across the aperture 4.

, In operating-the machine the hopper 2 is suppliedfwith wood billets B of various sizes arranged with the grain of the wood running generally parallel to the plane of the aperture Thefeed chute 3 isfilled with] these fbillets andthe cover plate 5 is moved toward the housing 'l'by means of the-lever '9 to substantial ly= confinethewood I within-thechute 3." The pusherplate 12 is retracted'of course while the feed chute-Sis being filled. It is then pushed forward and the cutting mechanism is put into,

' operation to move the cutteriheads 20 down'across'the aperture 4 and to slice the wood into waters that areuni-u form in thickness and in length along'the graing' ,The'

ride. 7 i 2. The device defined in claim 1 wherein said bearing members are bars and the bars are slida ble on the bearing plates. r I

4. The device defined in claim 1 wherein the' chains have cross bar supporting bars integral with the links thereof t ere being threesupporting bars'for each cross 'barand the cros of the three. I

. 5.'A wafer cuttingimachine 'adapted'to slice wafers 7 from. a wood billet, .said machine comprising an endless power-drivenconveyorhaving thereon cross bars, a block:

'fee'dingmeans. operable to'tfeed and press arwood billet against the cross bars and to hold the billet against movement in thedirection of travel of the conveyor, certaiirof said cross bars carrying'cutterheads thereon, eachiof saidcutter lie-ads comprising a slicing member having a cutting;

edge anda gullet beneaththe edge to receive the wood sliced from the billet'an'd a scoring blade ateachend I of the slicing member, the cutter head earrying cross bars s bar being secured to only the middle one being separated by other cross bars having billet receiving surfaces thereon extending in the direction of travel of the conveyor, and positioned to engage the billet and limit its advance between engagements with the cutter head carrying cross bars.

6. The device defined in claim 5 wherein the cutter head carrying cross bars have depth gage ribs thereon in front of the scoring blades operable to engage the billet as it leaves the said surface and to maintain the billet position until the cutter head engages it, and the cutter head carrying cross bars have billet engaging surfaces behind the blades at substantially the level of the cutting edge of the slicing member operable to prevent tipping of the billet behind the slicing member.

7. In a wafer cutting machine adapted to slice wafers from a Wood billet, a cross bar mounted for motion across the face of a billet to be sliced, a plurality of identical'cutting heads mounted von said cross bar, each comprising a slicing member having a cutting edge and a recessed gullet beneath the edge adapted to receive Wood sliced by the edge, said cutting heads being aligned with one another perpendicular to the direction of motion of said cross bar, a plurality of scoring blades mounted individually one at each side of each slicing member, said blades and said slicing members being alternated in line side by side across the length of said cross bar, and means secured to said cross bar operatively engaged with each of said slicing members and said blades adapted to maintain said slicing members and said blades in fixed positions relative to the cross bar.

8. In a wafer cutting machine adapted to slice wafers from a Wood billet, a travelling cutting head comprising a slicing member having a cutting edge and a recessed gu'llet beneath the edge adapted to receive wood sliced by the edge, and a pair of separate scoring blades abutting the slicing member at the ends of said cutting edge and closing the ends of the gullet in said slicing member, each scoring blade having a straight projecting cutting edge extending in the direction of travel outwardly beyond the cutting edge of said slicing member perpendicularly thereto.

9. A wafer cutting machine adapted to slice wafers from a wood billet comprising:

a travelling endless cutter head support;

a billet feed chute having means to guide and feed a wood billet to the support in a direction transverse to the surface of the support;

a plurality of cutter heads on :the support and spaced each cutter head comprising a slicing member having a cutting edge and a gullet beneath the edge to receive the wood sliced from the billet andhaving scoring blades upstanding at each end of the cutting edge;

said support having billet engaging surfaces behind the cutting edge extending rearwardly at substantially the level of the cutting edge operable to prevent tipping of the billet on the slicing member. a

10. A wafer cutting machine adapted to slice wafers from a wood billet comprising:

a travelling endless cutter head support;

a billet feed chute having means to guide and feed a wood billet to the support in a direction transverse to the surface of the support; i

a plurality of cutter heads on the support and spaced apart in the direction of travel of the support a distance at least a great as the distance, in said direction, across the opening leading from said chute to the support;

each cutter head comprising a slicing member having a cutting edge and a gullet beneath the edge to receive the wood sliced from the billet and having scoring blades upstanding at each end of the cutting -a said suppont having depth gage ribs in front of the scoring edges to limit billet advance in front of the 519,982 5/94 2,717,012 9/55 Schneider 144l62 2,811,183 10/57 Mo'ttet 144-l62 2,876,811 3/ 59 Matthews 144-162 2,936,008 5/ 60 Brown l44--162 2,997,082 8/61 Schubert et a1 144-162 X WILLIAM W. DYER, In, Primary Examiner. WILLIAM FELDMAN, MORRIS M. FRITZ, Examiners. 

1. A WAFER CUTTING MACHINE, ADAPTED TO SLICE WAFERS FROM A WOOD BILLET, COMPRISING AN ENDLESS POWER DRIVEN CONVEYOR MADE UP OF TWO ENDLESS CHAINS TRAINED AROUND SPACED SPROCKET WHEELS AND CROSS BARS REMOVABLY SECURED TO AND CONNECTING SAID CHAINS, A BILLET FEED BOX HAVING AN OUTLET OPENING TO SAID CONVEYOR AND HAVING MEANS THEREIN OPENING TO PRESS A BILLET THEREIN THROUGH SAID OPENING AGAINST THE CROSS BARS, CERTAIN OF SAID CROSS BARS HAVING CUTTER HEADS THEREON PROVIDED WITH MEANS TO SLICE A WAFER FROM THE BILLET AS THE CROSS BAR IS DRAWN 